Cradle Of Filth - From The Cradle To Enslave EP [1999]

4 worthwhile tracks, two shitty remix/dancefloor style tracks. Sounds like a Cradle Of Filth EP? It's a Cradle Of Filth EP. Yeeaaaaaah. Although the title track of this EP is Cradle's best known song (probably), I prefer the greater levels of aggression in their cover of the Misfits' 'Death Comes Ripping' and the song 'Of Dark Blood And Fucking' (which also features Dani's best lyrics ever, in my omniscient opinion). Funeral In Carpathia is naturally also fucking awesome.

160 kbps

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Cradle Of Filth - Cruelty And The Beast [1998]

Eh. This album can be enjoyable when one is in the mood for overblown pomp and circumstance, but really it really overdoes the grandiosity elements. Quasi-title track 'Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids' is something of a redeeming factor in its brilliance, but in many areas the album falls flat. It's also overlong at an hour.

160 kbps

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Cradle Of Filth - Dusk... And Her Embrace [1996]

Cradle Of Filth once had credibility. True story brah. Whilst you won't see me buying their new EP, I do love their older works, this being one of them (obvious by the release date). Although nowhere near as raw as The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh, this really perfects the balance of black metal and symphonic elements for their sound, which I feel was a little overdone on Cruelty And The Beast, their last good album.

128 kbps

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Cradle Of Filth - Vempire (Or Dark Faerytales In Phallustein) EP [1996]

This is the pinnacle of Cradle Of Filth's reasonable symphonic black metal work, before they started making 'gothy' shtick for overweight teenage girls. Ahem. Every single track on here is very good, and were all Cradle live staples for a long time (as evidenced by the excellent Live Bait For The Dead). Don't presume their entire body of work sounds like Nymphetamine.

128 kbps

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Carach Angren - Death Came Through A Phantom Ship [2010]

Despite the insanely cheesy cover art, this is symphonic black metal done well, not done Dimmu. It is incredibly clean in its production, and I won't deny that that does harm the album a little, but its other qualities (more than capable musicianship coupled with great songwriting and a good sense of when symphonic elements should fuck right off) make this an album worth listening to. That said, if you find Emperor to be overly bombastic, stay the hell away from this.

320 kbps

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Cradle Of Filth - The Principle Of Evil Made Flesh [1994]

However you feel about Cradle Of Filth's later output (and there is some of it coming), there is no denying that there earlier works rivalled Emperor in their pompously symphonic approach to black metal. This is certainly raw compared to later releases - I personally really enjoy it, although the vocals on this particular release are not well developed and get monotonous at times.

128 kbps

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Kvist - For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike [1996]

One of the lesser-known latecomers to black metal's second wave, Kvist have all the credentials: raw, only released 2 demos and this album before splitting up, and most importantly, Norwegian. This is a charming piece of Darkthrone-esque BM with keys.

192 kbps

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Emperor - Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk [1997]

Once again, apologies for the incorrect year on the .zip and the mp3s for this one - the year on the post is the correct one. This takes Emperor's previous complexity to a new extreme. Unfortunately suffers from incredibly quiet bass.

~220 kbps VBR

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Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse [1994]

One of the greats of the Norwegian black metal scene, it took me a long time to get into Emperor due to their complexity, but doing so led me to one of the most rewarding musical experiences I have ever had. Different from their peers due to the use of symphonic elements, but fear not, this is not Dimmu Borgir.

256 kbps

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Alas, Tyranny - Domination Liberation Purification [2010]

Okay, so I know next to nothing about this band, nor can I find much on the internet. This is their only release so far, and it's good fun symphonic black/death metal (which is going to generate a fuckton of tags). Nothing groundbreaking, just good ol' metal.

320 kbps

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